


may you sleep

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Pining, Sharing a Bed, lavender does not die bc i say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:43:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Lavender climbs into her bed is the second year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	may you sleep

**Author's Note:**

> written for femslash ficlets' [sappho prompt table](http://femslashficlets.dreamwidth.org/15203.html). 
> 
> prompt #12: 'may you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend.'
> 
> i rlly struggled to not go over 1000 words with this.

The first time Lavender climbs into her bed is the second year, after the first bloody message on the wall.

Parvati hears her approach, her soft footsteps and the rustling of her nightgown, and turns to face her.

“Can’t sleep either?” she mutters into the darkness and the silhouette of Lavender shakes her head. Parvati remembers how, when she was younger, her mother would let her sleep next to her when she was upset or unable to sleep; she wonders if this is how her mother felt, the gentle ache in her heart at the distress of someone she loves that makes it impossible to not comfort her.

“Come here,” she says, softly, and sees Lavender hesitate before sliding in next to her. Under the sheets, she links their pinkies, the way they always do; an easy, silent way of establishing that they’re _best_  friends and nothing less. Hermione always rolls her eyes at them, but Parvati likes the way it feels, like a promise or a vow.

Parvati can feel Lavender shake against her, but after a while she feels the tension melt away and her body still. “Thanks,” Lavender whispers into the space between them and then tucks her head into the crook of her neck.

“No problem,” she whispers back, because it’s not. She feels safer too.

+

It doesn’t stop after that, because there was more blood on the walls, and then people were being petrified by some monster roaming the castle (“‘Safest place,’ my arse,” Parvati says one night and hears Hermione snort from where she’s under her blankets with a book and a lit wand) and then that was all over, but to Parvati’s surprise, nothing changed. Lavender climbed into her bed every night, except for the nights Parvati climbed into hers.

“Why don’t you push your beds together?” Eloise says one morning at breakfast.

“We tried,” Lavender says sullenly, “but they moved themselves back.”

+

Lavender stops when she starts going out with Ron Weasley.

“Why?” Parvati asks, bewildered; she feels as though she’s been punched between the ribs, an ugly feeling in the pit of her stomach and a sour taste in her mouth. She feels angry in a way she’s unfamiliar with, like something’s been taken from her.

“Hermione mentioned it to him and he thinks it’s weird,” Lavender explains, her expression odd. Parvati doesn’t think she’s ever seen her so uncomfortable and that paired with the fact her fury is completely unexplainable and unwarranted makes her change the subject.

At night, she doesn’t feel cold—with Lavender, she was always overheated—but she feels haunted, in a way. She can feel Lavender against her back, her arm around her waist, her hair on her neck, but when she moves, she’s alone.

_He thinks it’s weird_ rattles around in her head until its whittled down to  _it’s weird._

_It’s weird it’s weird it’s weird_ like a teacher repeating a question until you understand, until you have the answers. It repeats itself, again and again, like an echo, until something in her chest shifts and all she can think is _oh_.

_Oh, that makes sense._

+

Lavender cries on her shoulder when Ron and her break up, but she doesn’t come back to her bed.

Parvati isn’t as upset about this as she would expect to be; in fact, she’s actually glad.

“Well, yeah,” Padma says when she tells her this, “if she came back to you, it’d be like you’re a rebound. Or something. Shit, Parv, why’d you come to me with this?”

“Because you’re the smart one!”

Padma scoffs. “You’re smart too, just in a different way. And I may be smart, but this is really not my area.”

Parvati groans and lets her head hit the table with a dull thud. Padma pats her on the shoulder awkwardly.

+

The first night of their sixth year, Parvati doesn’t hesitate to link their pinkies and lead Lavender to her bed. All their roommates are gone; all of them muggleborn and fleeing for their lives. Just them, and it should be exciting to have the place to themselves, but it’s just unsettling. Everything is; their last year, it should be their best, but they’ve been taken over by Death Eaters.

Lavender rests in head on her chest and sighs.

“It’ll be okay,” Parvati says and she knows she doesn’t have to whisper but she does anyway. She wants to read tea leaves or constellations, like they used to with Trelawney, but she’s afraid of what they’ll show her.

A few nights in, they push their beds together and this time, they stay there. 

+

After the battle, she stays at Lavender’s bedside; she sleeps there, head on the edge of the bed. Madam Pomfrey tuts, but allows her to stay.

Greyback did a number on her, scars over her face and her torso, but she’ll live and that’s all that matters. She’s weak, though, and hasn’t woken yet; everyone visits and Seamus tells everyone of Lavender standing against the Carrows. She didn’t scream when they punished her, bit her lip until it bled, but Parvati did. Seamus doesn’t mention that.

When she wakes up, Parvati’s asleep and she’s woken by hands softly shaking her.

“Hey,” she hears Lavender voice and is lit up from the inside.

“Hey,” she croaks back, grin stretching across her face, and is taken off guard by Lavender’s hands grasping her face, pulling her in.

The kiss is awkward, teeth clacking and the angle all wrong, and Parvati could care less; Lavender’s hands curve around her face gently and Parvati’s hands are gripped tight in the front of her hospital gown.

She gasps when they break apart and open her eyes to Lavender’s scarred, beautiful face beaming at her.

“So we won, huh?” she says and drags her closer, onto the bed, half on top of her. Parvati settles her head on her chest and hears the beat of her heart, erratic and loud against her ear.

“Yeah,” she says, “we did.”


End file.
